All the Sanity
by I Am Sweden
Summary: Max and the flock visit Max's mysterious Aunt Josephine to spend the holidays with her. While they're there, they meet a few people they thought they'd never see again...
1. Chapter 1

**All the Sanity**

**Chapter 1- Santa Baby, no. Christmas, a definite maybe**

"Two weeks until Christmas~!" Nudge sang, prancing about in our shared room. She and Angel slept on a bunk bed in the corner while I, Max, had this cool bed-thing that could fold up into a couch. It was in couch form now, and I sat on it with Fang's laptop (which with my awesome ninja skills I had stolen it while Gazzy and Iggy were currently in the middle of burning one of his shirts) on my lap.

I grinned, looking away from my Googled Itex links. Even though it was supposed to be nonexistent now, I checked up on it every now and then. Call me paranoid. I resumed my search just as Fang irritably kicked our door in.

He grabbed the back of Gazzy and Iggy's tee shirts and scowled at me. "Look up ways to kill two idiots," he all but growled at me, sending death glares to the two boys. The Gasman shuddered under his dark look, but Iggy couldn't see it and thus felt absolutely nothing.

Angel and Nudge looked up as I snickered. "Gosh, Fang, aren't you vain."

"It was the tee shirt your mom got me!"

I shrugged indifferently and erased my links history. It probably wouldn't matter to Fang if he knew I was looking up things that once had given us all many near-death experiences, but I couldn't let Angel, Nudge, or Gazzy know that Itex was still running. I'd found a lot of new information that I didn't like one bit. "Itex regaining economic power", "Itex sales skyrocketing", "Itex plans to start hunting down the flock with many sick, twisted things in store for them"…. Okay, I made that last one up. Still, this was not good. Especially since we lived with my Mom and Ella now, with Jeb Batchelder coming to check in on us every now and then.

Geez, we were just so loved.

"Why do I smell burnt clothing?" Mom shouted from downstairs. I guess she just got back in from work.

"Gazzy and Iggy's fault!" The four of us chimed. My two little convicts mouthed along with Mom as she called, "Get down here and clean up this soot!"

Angel giggled, lightening the mood. Trust my little girl to cheer everything up. Or mess everything up. Angel had a history of "influencing" people's ideas from time to time. Nudge then resumed her off-key singing about how soon Christmas was and Fang stole back his laptop, leaving me to try and find something to do.

This something was to go downstairs and scavenge for some cookies. Ella suddenly materialized beside me, grinning ear to ear. Warily I asking, "What's going on…?"

"It's Christmas, so we're going to Auntie Josephine's house!" she said, just as peppy as Nudge had been upstairs.

"Who's Auntie Josephine?" I asked. I felt horrible. This lady was my own family, and I didn't know her. In fact, the only true family I knew was Mom, Jeb, and Ella. The flock was just as close to family as them, but only Angel and the Gasman were the only real family among us. I remembered back to my days in Virginia at my very first (and hopefully last) school year. This guy named Sam had told me all about his family at Thanksgiving. Would my family come here for Thanksgiving? Even worse, would we, the Flock, still be here when Thanksgiving came? Before Itex's downfall, we never stayed anywhere longer than a day or two and never went to the same place twice. Now that we're here at my mom's house, I couldn't help but feel a little off my usual thing.

It felt weird not having to scavenge for food out in dumpsters. It felt weird being warm and dry all the time. And it definitely felt awkward sleeping in an actual bed every night.

Ella smiled and clapped her hands. "Auntie Josephine is only the best aunt ever! I can't wait until you get to meet her. She lives in Virginia where there's a lot of snow and -"

"Wait, _Virginia_? We're going back to Virginia!?"

"Virginia?" Gazzy exclaimed, peeping in around the corner. "Oh, no, not there! Anne's out to get us!"

"No, she's not, idiot! Anne's in jail," Iggy said. He turned to me, facing the wall a little ways beside me. "She _is _in jail, right, Max?"

I shrugged, hoping more than anything that witch was behind bars locked up with a whole flotilla of other wack-job scientists, all of them rotting and sniveling in agony-

"Max?" Ella asked, a little freaked by my expression. I laughed it away and told the boys to go spread the word that we were going to a real winter wonderland. Which happened to be in Virginia.

Ugh, the repulsive memories…. At least there weren't any Erasers to come popping in to say hi while we were there. Maybe we'd have a normal get-together and eat ourselves to death, while my family looked at us and thought, "Dear lord, I hope they're not from _my_ side of the family." Ah, I could only wait.

"SNOW!" Nudge happily squealed, running into the kitchen. The rest of the flock came in just as eager. "Angel and I are going to make snow angels, and snowmen, and snow women- are there such things as snow women?- and make an igloo big enough for all of us- you guys are going to help with that- and then we'll go inside and drink hot cocoa with cinnamon stuff in it and-"

"Ugh, stop, Nudge, my ears are bleeding!" Iggy moaned.

She laughed and quickly said, "I'm going to go pack!"

"We have a perfect monster among us," I muttered. Then I clapped my hands- Ella and I did that a lot, now that I think about I think about it. So did Mom. "When are we leaving?" I asked her.

Ella went over to Mom's calendar and said, "Mom's off starting tomorrow until the thirtieth. Let me go ask her."

The flock turned to me with exasperated looks. "Virginia? We're really going back to that heck-hole?" Iggy blandly asked. Of course. His parents, who had treated him like a circus act, were in Virginia. Everyone's parents were in Virginia and its neighboring states.

"Ig, I don't think Josephine's house is in northern Virginia."

"Is it at the beach?" Angel asked expectantly. She put on her best Bambi face. "Pleeeeaaaasssseeeee can we go to the beach?"

"I want to go!" Gazzy chimed. "Can we, Max? We haven't been at the beach in forever!"

Let's see. First time we went to a beach, Fang got shredded by Ari. Second time, we were whisked away to a hospital where Anne first dragged us in. Third time, I almost bled to death. Then, at the best beach in the world at Hawaii, Fang and I were rudely interrupted from our date by stupid robots. "No. Bad things happen at beaches."

They let out a dragging, "Awww!"

Before they could further harp me, I slipped away into the living room where Mom and Ella were. "Where does Aunt Josephine live?" I finally asked. In the doorway, I could feel the flock crowding around, praying it was Virginia beach.

"Southwest Virginia, in a small town called Richlands. We're taking a plane there tomorrow afternoon." Just like Ella and I, she clapped her hands together and looked at the Flock and I. "This evening we'll go shopping for winter clothes."

Upstairs, I heard Nudge gasp and she ran downstairs. "We're going shopping!? Yes! Ooh, I've got to have scarf and a fuzzy knitted hat!" And so she started to name off every winter item you could imagine. Finally she stopped and asked, "You don't think that'll be over my allowance, do you?"

Mom smiled as I just stared at her in disbelief. "Of course not. Everyone, get ready and we'll hit up the mall."

That was totally the wrong thing to say to these kids.

* * *

"I love, love, love Aeropostale!" Nudge cried as we walked out together. I'd only gotten a pair of light blue gloves, but Nudge was carrying three huge bags full of things. She'd bought a pair of gray leg warmers. Leg warmers! Since when were we back in the eighties? But even so, I had to admit that they were cool. Leg warmers were like socks without the bottom. If that wasn't genius, then I guess we'd have to rethink the whole string theory thing. I shuddered. Gross, science. I hated it.

We walked around a little while, stopping at every cookie store to pick up provisions. I suddenly stopped in front of a Subway restaurant. Nudge looked at me quizzically. "You're hungry, Max? After all of those cookies?"

I shook my head and did a 360. Something was wrong here. Something just felt… off. And after all the experience I'd gotten from moments like these, I knew for sure that there was going to be fighting.

"Max?" Nudge asked again, looking around too. "What's wrong? Flyboys?"

The feeling hadn't gone away but I shook my head again. "Nothing. Let's go find Ella and Angel."

She nodded.

* * *

Fang suddenly stopped. Dr. Martinez turned around. "Fang?"

After seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he shook his head. "Nothing."

She looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. "Do you want to go in Payless Shoes with me? I've got to get a new pair of boots. I have a feeling I'll be outside making snow men with Angel…."

"No thanks. I'll go find Max. Later," Fang said with a sophisticated nod.

* * *

"Ski ball!" Gazzy cried, dragging Iggy over to an arcade. "Oh, I love this game!" He reached in his pocket for a quarter, but they only had a fifty dollar bill. "Hey, Iggy, you got a quarter I can use?"

"Ah, nope. Used my last one on that soda a minute ago. Besides, we're supposed… is that pinball I hear?" Gazzy laughed manically as Iggy walked over to the change machine and fed a few dollars into it. The coins jingled loudly as they shot out. "You get half and I got half. After they're gone, we'll go get some hobo gloves or something."

"The ones with our fingers showing? Sweet. And remember to stop by that stinking perfume place. We need some of the spray stuff for our bombs. Dr. M stopped buying it last week." he reminded him.

They both stopped suddenly and turned around, bumping into each other. Iggy shook his head and got off of the ski ball ramp. "What's that?"

Gazzy shook his head, biting his lips. "Um… I think we should go find Max." He looked around at the stuffed animals on the shelves above the games and shivered. "This place is starting to creep me out a little."

"Yeah," Iggy warily agreed. "Be quiet and listen for Nudge."

* * *

Ella checked through the racks of coats for a size five. She still couldn't get over how small Angel was. "Aha! Do you like this one, Angel?" she asked, holding out a pale pink one with large, round buttons on it. Angel ignored her and cocked her head to the side. "Angel?"

"There's something bad here. Everyone's jumpy- even the shoppers. I think… but, that's got to be impossible…." she murmured.

Ella took the coat and grabbed Angel's hand. "What is it?" she asked in a low voice. She handed the coat and a twenty bill over to the shop clerk. "What do you hear?"

Angel waited until they were outside of the store. "I… feel Erasers. They're looking for Max and Fang. But, there's something wrong. They're not thinking anything bad. They're almost desperate."

"But, aren't the erasers gone?" Ella squeaked. Her knees were shaking a little bit now. Dr. M had told her one day about the Erasers and how frightening and bloodthirsty they were. If they were after Max and Fang, this wasn't good news.

Suddenly Angel smiled. "They can't find us, and they don't know where we live. If we ask your mom to get us on an earlier flight, they won't be able to find us and they'll leave before we get back."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- Boys, Erasers, and an Itchy Scarf

**I tossed and turned on my couch/bed thing. I was still a little freaked out about earlier. When Ella told me Angel had thought it was Erasers, I nearly screamed. I was seriously thinking we were screwed. Robots were so easy to get rid of. Erasers just kept coming back again and again with new versions of trouble. My biggest concern was Ella and Mom. They couldn't fight a pack of angry Erasers. And… I wasn't sure I could protect both the flock and them.**

**Finally, I sat up and walked into the living room. A dim light was in the arm chair. Fearfully, I poked the chair and Fang reappeared, his hand over his eye. "Ow! Thanks for trying to poke my eye out!"**

"**Sorry. Your battery's almost dead."**

**He looked at me. "Are you okay, Max?"**

**Sighing, I shook my head and sat on the chair's arm. "Ella told me Angel felt Erasers."**

"**They're dead. Ari was the last one."**

"**But what if Itex missed a few?" I suddenly asked, dawning in realization. "What if they were with Max II and the rest of our doubles, not killed yet?"**

**Fang shrugged. "Then they'd be grateful to us. Maybe they were there looking for our autographs or something."**

**I shot him the bird. He pretended not to notice and pushed me down beside him. "It's all right. You get worried too much."**

**I cocked an eyebrow. He thought I worried too much? Just who was freaking out over a tee shirt earlier? "Wouldn't you have got lovey-dovey messages on your blog if the Erasers were madly obsessed with us? I can see it now: they're getting in line to see who'll marry you first."**

"**Hope they know I'm already taken."**

**My heart sped up as he flashed me an all original Fang smile. As we leaned in for a kiss, Angel bounded down the stairs and gasped, "Max!"**

**I caught her as she barreled up to us. "They were all there!" she quietly wailed into my shoulder. "The Erasers were after all of us at your Aunt's house. They took her children and made us leave, Max! But when we f-found them…!"**

**She was shaking from her nightmare. I patted her back, rocking a little. "Shh, it was just a bad nightmare." But since when did Angel get nightmares? I thought that I was the only one who had nightmares of Erasers. If she was scared, then I wasn't doing something right. "It's all right, baby."**

**Angel sniffled and finally went to sleep, still on my lap. With one arm I hugged Fang and got up. This was the last time I'd let Angel get that scared of a nightmare. And I would make sure that nothing happened to Aunt Josephine and her kids, if she had any.**

**I climbed on Angel and Nudge's bunk bed ladder and gently laid her down and covered her up. Celeste was at her side along with a few other stuffed animals Mom had got her. Total was still fast asleep at the foot of her bed. Suddenly exhausted, I dropped down on my bed, not bothering to cover up. Arizona was warm enough to keep me from freezing. I just closed my eyes.**

**I dreamt, too.**

**There was a girl in my dream, and I couldn't help but think I knew her from somewhere. "New York, the Institute," she said, obviously reading my mind. I thought hard about that day. We set all the mutants free, even the ones close to death. They and the flock ran out of the sewer system- "There. Think of the mutants. Remember the girl that had wings, just like you?" I nodded. Yeah… she was fourteen with light blonde hair and a fair face with scared green eyes. Her wings were bright white and pale yellow, making me think of an older version of Angel. "That's right. I'm her."**

**I cocked my head, looking her over. This girl had the same face and hair color, but it was much shorter and curly. She wore jeans and a baggy tee shirt that looked about five sizes larger than it should have been. She rolled her eyes and rolled her shoulders, her white and yellow wings popping out. She walked closer towards me and smiled. "You've got to help me, Max. When you get to Virginia tomorrow, go flying in the forest behind Josephine's house. I'll be there, and I'll need your help. My brother, Marco, will be missing and only you can help me find him."**

**My eyebrows knitted together. "But what about the Erasers? If they find the flock, Mom, and Ella while I'm gone-"**

"**Erasers aren't going to be a problem. My brothers and sisters will take care of them easily. We've had our fair share of run-ins with the Erasers too since you broke us out."**

**The dark area around us seemed to get brighter. The girl noticed and said, "Promise me you'll help me find him tomorrow. Promise me!"**

"**What's your name?" I hazily asked.**

"**I'll tell you tomorrow, just please, promise!"**

"**I… yeah. I promise."**

**She smiled and started to fade away as the area became bright white. I blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the bright light. I tried to sit up, but something kept me down. In horror, I saw the restraints on my arms and legs.**

_**Just like old times.**_

**I pulled harder than I've ever pulled, but they didn't give. "Let me out!" I screamed. "I have to take care of them!"**

**The only response I got were echoing laughs. A whitecoat walked over to my side. Sneering, she got up in my face and said, "Thanks so much for bringing them back for us, Maxie. We'll let you go just like we promised."**

**The woman undid my latches, and I suddenly lost the will to punch her in face, find the flock, and run. Instead, I wanted to shout and sing. Smiling, she and other whitecoats handed me my red wind breaker and opened the door. I walked confidently down a dark hallway. There were cages and dog crates lined up neatly on the sides, and various experiments and mutants called out for me, begging me to help them.**

**I didn't turn and break them out.**

**In the last row, I saw Angel, deathly pale. I screamed, but didn't move to unlock the door and drag her out.**

"**You traitor!" Fang yelled behind me. I turned around slowly and just stared at him, bruised and beaten. "How could you leave us like this!? I thought you were supposed to protect us from these guys, not send us away!"**

"**And I bet you used to think I loved you too," I spat. Then, ignoring the rest of the flock in their cages, I walked out through the last doors into a courtyard and sprang up in the air, flying away.**

"**NOOOO!" I screamed, springing up. Tears were covering my face and, before I could stop myself, I burst out crying. I heard a sharp yelp from Total, who had rolled off Angel's bed in surprise. The girls also woke up and bolted to my side. Fang, Iggy, Gazzy, Ella, and Mom were there in three seconds flat.**

**Mom pushed through the crowd and knelt down on the floor. "Max, honey, what's wrong?"**

**I shook my head. I didn't want to tell them about how I just left them there at the school. It didn't matter if it was a dream. How could I have stood to do that?**

_**That's why it's called a nightmare, Max. You can't help yourself from seeing something you don't want to do.**_

**I turned to her. "But you weren't even moving and I just **_**left you there**_**!"**

**Angel's lip quivered. I threw off my blanket and took off running. My Spongebob pajama pants did nothing to help keep the cold morning air off my legs, and I regretted not snatching my wind breaker as I ran outside. Flying eased away everything, especially when I poured on the intense speed. When I hit Nevada, I suddenly had the impulse to go There. I remembered it perfectly. On the side of a huge cliff, hidden by clouds and trees, was my old house where the flock and I lived before this whole mess started. I flew down at the front door and went inside, noticing that everything was just as messy as before I left. Shattered coffee mug pieces still lay in the place where Iggy had thrown it, narrowly avoiding Fang's face so long ago. Was it really that long? It had at least been about a year. On the kitchen table were maps of the School still, moldy remains of breakfast, and some old bandages. I picked up one of Jeb's old reports and crumpled it.**

**I went into all of our old rooms, finding a backpack and stuffing some of our old stuff in it. I put in a lot of Angel's stuffed toys, Nudge's CD, and even some explosives ingredients for Iggy and Gazzy. In Iggy's room I found a rather racy poster of a half-naked surfer girl. Why he had that in there when he was **_**blind**_** I have no idea, but it really frightened me to think he was like that. In Fang's room there wasn't many things, but I took his old I-Pod and some clothes for him.**

**There wasn't any room for any of my stuff, but I went in my room anyway, just to look around. I found a Santa hat and an old itchy scarf. I could use them when I delivered my gifts to everyone. My new shoes put my old ones to shame when I opened my closet and looked at how few pairs of clothes I used to have. Suddenly, just because I could, I went back to Fang's room. If I remembered correctly, on my last birthday he failed to get me anything. He kept saying it was in his room somewhere and had thus banned me from ever entering.**

**Well, that's sort of redundant, isn't it, Fang?**

**Under his bed was a shoe box. The corners were bitten into, so apparently mice had occupied this nice abode. I took the lid off and looked inside. There wasn't a gift in it anywhere, but there were pictures and other strange knickknacks in it. I sat down on his bed and looked through all of it. Jeez, was a picture of me, age ten? My hair was insanely long and tangled, and I looked more like an escapee than….**

**That's right. Jeb took this picture on our first night here. Fang, Iggy, and I were bunched up together on the couch with Nudge and Gazzy in the floor, laughing about something. I held two-year-old Angel, who was asleep. Right underneath that picture was another one, this time with Jeb in there with us. I found a horribly made God's Eye craft (so we were never good at crafts… but you had to do something to keep you from dying of boredom) and some marbles and different kinds of rocks.**

**At the bottom of the box, I found a note. The spelling was absolutely horrible, so it took a while to decipher, but I finally decoded it:**

_**Maximum Ride**_

_**Fang**_

_**Iggy**_

_**Gazzy**_

_**Angel**_

_**Nudge**_

_**If you find this, we're sorry for breaking in and going through your stuff. We just wanted to find food. You guys saved us back in New York, and we couldn't believe it when we found your house. Thank you,**_

_**Marco, Selene, Amber, Drew, Lane, and Ford**_

**The girl from my first dream said she and I were supposed to find her brother, Marco. Was this the same kid? I took the note and safely tucked it away in my backpack. I'd ask when we got on the plane to Aunt Josephine's house.**

**I unfurled my wings and took off, zooming back to Arizona.**

*** * ***

"Max, you're back!" Nudge cried, swinging the front door open and barely missing my nose. She rammed into me in a hug. "Oh, why'd you go and leave on us?"

I scratched her back, right between the wings, and handed her the backpack. The note was in my pocket. "I found it back at our house. Sorry I couldn't bring more."

She gasped and stared at it in awe. "It's… our stuff? Our old stuff, from our old house? Thank you, thank you, thank you, Max! Guys! Come here and look at what Max brought back! It's our stuff!"

I followed in after her with a smile on my face. "Check out Fang's latest blog entry," Iggy whispered, walking by me. I knew my "Ugh, what now?" face was lost on him, so while he and the flock went through the backpack I stole the laptop again.

And what a flattering entry.

First, I am _not _emotionally unstable and a nut job. Second, Fang had better be fast, because I was going to kill him.

_You traitor! How could you leave us like this!? I thought you were supposed to protect us from these guys, not send us away!_

I stopped dead and swallowed hard. "Never," I promised under my breath. "I'll never betray you."

The blog wasn't too bad. It was kind of true, actually (last time I am EVER admitting to something like that). I left it back on his bed and went back downstairs. Mom gave me a look that terrified me. Gazzy and Iggy were already outside, blowing something up. I hoped it wasn't something of mine. "Would you mind coming into the living room, Maximum?" Any other time I would have cracked up. No one ever called me Maximum. Well, Jeb had called me that, and so had the Voice, but still. It was pretty dang funny having Mom call me that.

"Oooh!" someone piped behind me. I gave the Flock one last fleeting glare and shut the door behind me.

"Max, you've got to promise me that when we get to Josephine's house, you won't just go and fly off randomly. What if you'd gotten hurt or something? What if people from Itex or CSM haters found you? There wouldn't have been anyone around to find or help you. I might never have seen you again." Mom said seriously.

"You're afraid that I'll run into the Erasers Angel felt yesterday," I clarified. Mom took a deep breath and finally nodded. "Mom, I've dealt with them all of my life. There's been a lot of times when I've been alone and had to fight to get out a situation. Itex is nothing. CSM haters… well, they're mostly top-notch business crack heads who promote Global Warming. And I'm sure that now won't be the day I crack."

Mom sighed and sat quietly for a moment, thinking this over. Outside, I heard the faint poof of a far-away explosion. I hope those two weren't having too much fun. Geez, I was just waiting for the day when they melted down the earth, or blew up America.

Though I have to admit that that would be an awesome way to signify that I was dead. Oh, crap, where did that come from!? Morbid much, Max?

With a forced nod, Mom groaned, "Just go make sure Iggy and Gazzy didn't blow up anything too important."

I hugged her. "Thanks, Mom!"

That's when I heard a scream.

Just lovely.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3- When Big Fang Meets Little, Furry Fang…**

Mom and I ran in the kitchen to see Nudge sweating (she had screamed), Angel pale, and Fang with a disgusted look on his face. Ella was passed out on the floor.

At the front door stood Iggy and the Gasman, and a large, shadowy figure. The large, shadowy figure walked into the middle of the room and waved. "Vell, ve meet again, Max."

And you can guess who our new mystery guest was.

Jeb irritably turned to Gazzy. "Would you cut that out?" He snickered and shut the door. "Ah, sorry for coming on such short notice. I brought you all presents!"

To make the moment right, Jeb put on a Santa hat and dragged the large bag in.

I glared at him as hard as I could. "This totally ruins my thing, Jeb."

He looked up in mock innocence. "What do you mean, Max?"

I pointed to the toy and ect. covered table. "My Santa act. You're ruining its effects."

Jeb gave me a "Sorry, didn't know" gesture and handed me a large box poked with holes in it. I huffily took it, masking my giddy excitement. "You got me a blender?" I asked blandly.

"Look inside the box."

Now completely suspicious, I slowly opened it. My jaw dropped as I took out the small, furry mass. Total's hair stood up on end and he started to bark uncontrollably. "Shut up, you'll scare it!" I snapped.

The kitten woke up, blinking its bright blue eyes. It's pelt was furry and orange striped over white, with a solid white tail. I gave a goofy smile and gently scratched behind its ears. "Aw, now what to call you…?"

"How about Dream Sickle? It looks like it!" Nudge said, awing over it.

Total's mouth drooped and he plopped down next to Angel's feet. "I feel so betrayed…."

"Don't worry, Total," Angel assured, petting him, "I still like dogs better."

_But he sure is adorable, Max!_

I then thought of the perfect name. "Fang!"

He looked at me in surprise. "Uh… call it Furball?"

"No, that'll be its name."

"You're naming the cat after me."

I snickered. "Of course not. I just think this little booger will turn out to be vicious one day."

Fang (my boyfriend) rolled his eyes. Fang (my kitty) started to purr, climbing up to my shoulder, and sinking his claws in. I yelped, but the cat refused to loosen its grip. Jeb laughed. "All kittens do that. You'll get used to it." Wonder when I'll ever get used to _you_?

Jeb finished delivering the gifts to everyone. After we finally woke her up, Jeb gave Ella a gift too. Angel was now officially high on teddy bear fur. Don't ask me how that's possible, but it is. Fang ignored his gifts (a book, a new cell phone, and Milky Way chocolate bars, which hopefully would soon be mine) and turned up his I-Pod I'd found for him. At least someone appreciated my gifts. Nudge rushed up to our room to try on her new make up (great, Jeb, way to go. You've just sentenced the world to a certain demise by high-pitched squeal) and her new, rather expensive clothes. Iggy also got an I-Pod, along with plenty of gift cards, so he migrated to his room to make use of the laptop. Gazzy hollered and ran off to somewhere with his new DSi. Even Total was happier now that he had a huge bone. It was bigger than him at Akila size. I bet he was going to give it to her, that small love-drunk animal.

* * *

Jeb thankfully wasn't going to Aunt Josephine's house with us. I'm not sure I could have survived three weeks with him. On the plane, we were relatively close together in seating. Once we took off, I took Fang (kitty) out of my lightly closed satchel. I scratched him behind the ears and he started to purr again. But this time, before Fang could claw into my shoulder, I held him out from me and snuggled him that way. The other Fang was too busy listening to loud music (is that Paramore I hear?) to bother about Fang. Ha ha, I am totally loving this….

A few hours later, both Fangs were asleep, and so was Mom, Ella, the Flock, and most of the other passengers. The lights were severely dimmed so much that I could hardly see the seat in front of me. Out of my suitcase, I pulled out Mom's laptop (much smaller than Fang's stolen one) and went on the internet. I was surprised I could get a strong Wi-Fi signal this high in the air. As usual, I googled Itex. The newer results were starting to scare me again. Itex was almost at full power again, this time manufacturing bukoos of new products. They were ready for us. I knew it.

Fang stretched, blinking his bright blue eyes a minute. He nudged against my arm and I scratched behind his ears. Fang immediately started to turn motorboat on me and I remembered that now was about time to feed him again.

Don't ask me how to smuggle cans of Kitty-Chow on a jet. Let's just say that airport security isn't as good as it should have been. Fang lapped it up and I went back to my Itex investigation.

* * *

"We're here!" Ella happily sang when we prepared for landing the next morning. Angel rushed to the back and demanded she see Total. I got on to her over influencing the attendant, and we got out of there fast.

Outside the airport was more snow than I'd ever seen. There was at least a foot of it, because Total was practically swallowed whole. He was still grumpy because of Fang's arrival, but I was sure he'd get over himself soon enough. There was a huge van waiting for us outside, driven by Aunt Josephine. She was a lot younger than Mom, but they could definitely have passed as twins. Josephine's eyes were a pretty caramel color that matched her hair, which was covered up by a pale blue knitted hat. It was the same one that matched my gloves. "Nice to see you, Valencia! Plane ride all right? Oh! And Ella, I haven't seen you in forever!"

After she smooched all of with a hug and we were on our way to her house she looked back at us and asked, "Which one of you wonderful girls is my niece?"

"That'd be me," I said. "I'm Max."

Josephine broke into smiles again. "I love the name Max! You named yourself, right? And my word, you remind me of this girl my kids talked about once…."

Mom straitened and cleared her throat. "Well… Josephine, I haven't exactly told them about your children yet."

"Really? Then let me explain. I adopted all six of them last year. There's Marco, he's about your age, Max. Selene, she's your age, too, and so is Drew. Lane is twelve, Amber is eight, and Ford is the oldest at sixteen. But… they're not exactly normal, you see-"

Iggy snorted, and all at once we elbowed him. "Ah… well, Marco is… pretty fast. Selene flies. Lane can sort of make messages in dreams. Amber is the best doctor in the world. And Ford can, well, sort of see the future."

I remembered my note.

Then I asked, "You said you adopted them last year, right? Did they come from New York?"

"How did you know?" Josephine asked. "Are you the mind-reader, Max?"

"No, that's Angel. I just sort of think… we might have met them…."

_The Institute? _Angel asked with her mind.

_Yeah_, I thought back. _Selene was the one with wings, remember her?_

Angel's eyes lit up. "Yay, they're like us! Gazzy…."

I looked back at Josephine who wasn't in the least surprised when Mom explained we had powers and wings too. In fact, she seemed practically ecstatic. "They'll get along perfectly then."

Suddenly, Angel froze. I turned to her right as she said in an eerie voice, "He's in trouble. His leg is stuck."

_Promise me!_

"Stop the car!" I shouted. Josephine immediately did and I jumped out of the car. "I'll meet you back at your house. Selene and Marco will give me directions."

"Max, what are you-?" but I was already in the sky, zooming


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4- The Adventure of Marco, Selene, and Max**

"MARCO!" Selene shouted, over the howling wind and thick snow. I skidded to a midair stop. She turned in surprise and looked me over. "M-Max? What're you-"

We turned sharply to a river below us. With my raptor vision I scanned the water's surface looking for Marco. I guess it would have helped if I knew what the kid looked like, but that would have been too simple, wouldn't it? Finally I found a scruffy haired boy unconscious a little ways from the river. I grabbed Selene's arm and zoomed downward. She gasped and ran over to him. "Marco! Marco! Wake up, Marco!"

"Shh, let him sleep. He's fine. Lead me to Josephine's house," I said.

Selene was sobbing, but she nodded and shot up into the air. I carried Marco, who was surprisingly light, all the way to Josephine's house. Inside, she was sobbing too. Selene threw the door open and rushed inside. A sixteen year old- Ford, I guessed- ran out and took him from me. "Thank you," he breathed out and ran back inside.

The flock and a bunch of other kids were crowded in the living room. Marco, Ford, and Josephine were gone. A twelve year old, Lane, rushed up to me. "You did find him! You did get my message!"

"_You _sent it to me? But…" I looked over to Selene who was busy comforting an eight year old who must have been Amber. The last one, a tall girl, must have been Drew.

"Oh, yeah, Ford told me Selene would go look for him, so I showed you her instead of me. So you'd recognize her," he explained.

Mom was red in the face, but she tried to act like she wasn't mad. I guess that I sort broke that promise I made to her. And now I was going to be grounded or something? Oh, yes, and that went smoothly in yonder years past. Being "grounded" didn't really do much to me. Instead of giving me a lecture she put fleece blanket around me and smiled. "It's cold outside, isn't it?" I noticed that I was shaking because of the cold.

"Thanks for reminding me, Angel," I said, settling in on the couch between her and Fang. Fang hastily put the smaller Fang on my lap and complained, "I think I'm allergic to this thing."

I frowned and scratched Fang's head. "You're only jealous Jeb didn't get you a pet."

"And give up all my Milky Ways? No, thanks."

"Jerk." Fang mewed with me in agreement. Now that I had the chance, I looked around Josephine's house. It was warm (there was an old-fashioned stove on the back wall, right next to the couch), and pictures of Josephine and her "kids" covered the pale brown walls. The floor was a lightly tinted wood. A humongous Christmas tree stood bright and tall in a corner, far away from a staircase on the opposite side and the staircase. None of the ornaments were glass or thin, breakable plastic. Guess these guys were as destructive as my bunch…. That's wonderful.

"OWWW!" a kid wailed from in the kitchen.

"You can't run with a sprained ankle, idiot!" Ford groaned.

"What!? But my race-"

"No buts! Now go sit on the couch and- Marco, wait!" Josephine scolded.

The scruffy haired boy rushed in the room, wincing with every step. Selene tackled him in a hug. "You stupid, moronic little jerk, how dare you go leave like that all of a sudden!?" she angrily demanded.

His face turned bright red, and only Drew quietly chuckled. Now that I noticed it, she had been awfully quiet since I'd got here, sitting on the bottom step away from everyone else. "I told you I was going out to shovel out Mr. Addison's driveway…," he mumbled.

Selene pushed away from him, her face red. "That is no excuse! What if Max and I hadn't found you!? You'd be frozen, and we'd have no way to find you!"

Lane suddenly interrupted and said, "Amber went for the mistletoe."

They both jumped away and went silent. Marco soberly went to sit on the step with Drew. She swatted some melting snow off his head silently. Mom looked around nervously at us, and we looked expectantly at her. With a final sigh, she said, "I guess we'll have to figure out where everyone is going to sleep."

"I call my bed!" Marco shouted.

"Mine, too!" Lane and Amber piped.

Ford crossed his arms. "Snooty brats, they're our guests! They've got to sleep in actual beds. Marco, you and Lane can share the extra mattress in my room, Selene and Amber can sleep in Mom's room…."

Angel leaned over and whispered, "He wants his bed, too."

I snickered, but thankfully only Angel and Fang noticed.

Total suddenly lifted his head and moaned, "Can someone make cocoa? I'm dying for some chocolate."

I was amazed. Not one of them flinched at seeing Total talk. Amber came over and patted his head. "I remember you, Total!"

Marco groaned. "You were the one who would never shut up…."

He huffily stood and trotted to Angel. He cast a disgusted glare at Fang and hopped up on her lap. Fang hissed at him and started rubbing against my arm. "Would you two get over it?" I mumbled.

Josephine and mom smiled. "Yes. I think we will start on some cocoa. If you all bundle up, you can go outside for a while."

We cheered.

* * *

Iggy sighed contently. Fang looked over at him in surprise. "She's… she's…."

"Who?" he asked. His eyes strayed over to Max who was busy making snow angels with Angel, Nudge, and Amber. Of course Iggy hadn't meant her, but….

He sighed again. "The redhead over there, standing in front of the woods."

Fang was shocked a minute, then remembered that Iggy could see things and people in front of white. He was definitely enjoying the snow. "Drew?"

"Drew… she's got a pretty name."

Fang smirked. "So what, are you going to use your mad pimp skills to woo her into falling in your arms?"

"You bet I am," Iggy said, a determined face coming on. He got up and walked over to her.

Max's animal (Fang refused to call it anything else) wobbled over and brushed up against his arm. "Going to be vicious one day, eh?" he muttered. Fang purred. He looked back at Max, who this time was threatening Gazzy about something. "Normal life. Geez, when's the last time we had that? It won't last. Erasers, robots, freaking Itex momma's-boys or something will come and ruin it soon. Now that's normal."

He irritably turned to the kitten. "And why the heck am I talking to a furball like you, anyway?" Fang rolled his eyes.

* * *

Josephine lazily crossed her arms, standing with Valencia and watching the kids run around. "Max looks a lot like Jeb," she commented, "but she's got your eyes."

Valencia smiled. "Oh, but she definitely acts just like you. A few days and you'll swear you're seeing double." Suddenly she frowned. "Why was Marco gone, anyway? I thought he wasn't the type to just go off alone."

Her sister looked over at him, ignoring his sprained ankle and trying to make an igloo with Ford, Lane, and Nudge. Selene suddenly ran over to scold him for putting too much pressure on his injury, but he only snapped back, "Amber is going to fix it later so it doesn't matter."

Finally, Josephine shook her head. "I don't know. And I definitely don't believe that he was goin' to shovel out Mr. Addison's drive. They've all been acting a little weird."

"It's probably just because they're with kids like them." Valencia explained.

Josephine nodded. "Must be. Ford would tell me if anything was wrong."

But something still troubled her. Selene wasn't always that strict towards Marco. And he wasn't as reckless. Ford _would_ tell her if anything was wrong, wouldn't he?

_Wouldn't he?_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5- Run, Run, but It'll Come Back to Bite You Later**

_And what will your name be, now that you're out of there? Obviously you're not going to keep Tinker Bell._

I wrinkled my nose at the hideous name I'd had back at the school. All of the white coats called me that because of my temper. I took a lot of consideration into my name. The flock never went by the white coats' nicknames, only turning to each other when we wanted to talk. Jeb was giving the choice of a real name to us. Well, we'd pick one for my blonde little angel, since she was still little. Angel… that was a pretty name.

But what would I call myself? Something cool and definitely me…. On TV I suddenly heard the name Sally Ride. She was the first female astronaut, right? Now that was a cool name. Not Sally, but Ride. Maximum Ride… now _that _sounded cool. "Maximum Ride," I told him. "I wanna be Maximum Ride."

Jeb smiled. "Max it is then."

* * *

Sunlight drifted onto my face, giving an unwanted awakening. I yawned and rolled over, almost squishing Fang. He meowed indignantly and laid down on the back of my neck. Now _that _I couldn't stand. I shifted to where he was forced to slide off when he pinned his claws into my skin making me shriek. "GET OFF ME, FANG!" but the cat refused to let go. "THAT HURTS! STOP!"

"Max!? Fang!? What are you two…."

I turned to Mom who looked a little green. My mouth dropped open as I suddenly realized what she'd been thinking. "Mom!"

"Sorry, sorry! I just thought… when you said Fang… 'get off'…!"

At the same time, we groaned. Mom quickly left the room and I pulled the covers up over my head. Gross much, Mom!? Dear lord, we were FOURTEEN! What did she think we'd be doing!?

"And the fun's only starting."

Before I could jump up, something heavy pressed down on me, burying my face in the pillow. I screamed, but it was too muffled. The voice laughed and yanked my hair up. "Not there yet, but your date is coming up soon," he promised.

Then the pressure released and I bolted upright, only to find… nothing.

The room was still and silent, the only noise being my rapid heart. Fang must have seen it, because he was on the floor, his fur shot out and back arched. I picked him up and stood, trying to calm down.

_Your date is coming up soon. _My date… on my neck…? I ran to the bathroom and quickly grabbed a bunch of my hair. Using a second mirror, I made sure nothing was wrong. There were claw marks from Fang, but other than that, nothing was out of the ordinary. No foreboding date telling my death.

Well. No way I could sleep after that.

I went downstairs, trying my hardest not to wake anyone in the living room. Drew had the couch, Amber and Selene shared a large armchair, and the boys were in various places on the floor. I weaved through them to the kitchen where Mom and Josephine were drinking coffee. "Oh, good morning Max," Josephine greeted me.

Mom looked away from me and took a silent drink. "Mornin'."

The three of us were silent for a minute. "That's my FINGERS, Marco!"

"Sorry, Ford!"

"Ow, you kicked my eye!"

"Sorry, Lane!"

"It's too early!" Selene moaned. Amber wailed out another complaint, but I was too busy trying not to laugh to notice what was said. Drew irritably glared at those in the living room when she walked in and joined us at the dining table. "Hello, honey! Sleep good?"

Drew nodded, then went to make her own coffee. Josephine smiled as the others stumbled in. "I'm so proud. You didn't kill each other in front of guests."

They stopped to glare at Marco, but he punched the air. "Then can you make pancakes, Mom?"

Josephine turned to Mom and me. "Do you all like pancakes?"

Mom laughed. "These kids will eat _anything_."

Desert rat, slightly spoiled milk, anything _I _have tried to make…. Yep. She was definitely right on that subject. Then, as if remembering my presence, she made a lame excuse to leave. I rolled my eyes. "Valencia is crazy, isn't she?" Josephine snorted. "What'd she do this time?"

Everyone in the room turned to me. "Eh…. I'll, um, tell you later…." When everyone isn't staring at me and I know for sure I can trust you. And when I know for definite you won't burst out laughing at me and my cat.

Speaking of Fang, he meowed and pointed to the door where the other Fang was. "Up a little early?" he nonchalantly asked the room's inhabitants.

"Marco kicked me _in the eye_!" Lane complained again. He scowled at him under thin, dark hair. Marco defiantly turned to Selene and started a ridiculous story. "Ugh, and Ford's elephant foot-steps! I'm surprised the house didn't fall down."

"Why're you bringing me into this, little brat?" he growled.

"Mom! Ford called me a little brat!"

"That's because you are a brat!"

"You're younger than me, Amber!"

"Hey! Be nice to her!"

"Stop taking sides, Selene!"

"Make me!"

Fang cleared his throat. "Forget I asked."

Again, I noticed how Drew was silent. What was up with her? Did she not trust us (if so, kudos to her for being cautious) or didn't like us (well… that seemed unlikely if you looked at her "family") or something?

Suddenly I heard a thump that could only have been made by Iggy. "Ouch," he mumbled walking in the kitchen. I had to pull him out of the way or he would've ran into the wall. But he was relatively close, just like he always was.

"…and it was so glittery and white and it looked just like icing!" Nudge was saying into Fang's new phone. So that's where it went. "Oh, sorry, I've got to go. Yeah, bye!" She turned to Fang when she had hung up. "Jeb's not happy you gave me your phone. He said that he was going to get you something else you can't help but like."

"A bazooka to blow his head off? Just like I've always wanted," he murmured to low for Nudge to hear. She migrated over to Lane and Selene, who were still in the middle of their argument.

Everyone in such a cramped up room was started to get to me. Years of being claustrophobic in a cage must have caused it. That, or when strange things pin me down against my will and tell me my date's about to show up on my neck. I wonder if anyone here knew about it.

I looked at Ford, the oldest mutant from the school I'd ever met at sixteen. If he lasted that long, then wouldn't we, too? I guess that was a little too much to ask for. I never looked to far ahead in the future. There was always a possibility I might not make it into tomorrow. Especially if Angel was right and Erasers-

"MAX!!"

All at once, we turned to the staircase where Gazzy bolted downstairs, still in his pajamas. "Erasers are here!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6- Friend or Foe, I don't Care, Just Get to Leaving**

I ran past them all and bolted upstairs. "Mom! Angel! Ella!" I screamed, looking for any Erasers.

They must be in their rooms. I heard Ella shriek in Angel's room. "Ella, Angel!"

I broke into the room and tackled the huge, hairy mass in front of me. "Get away from them!"

"Ack, no! Wrong one! Get _him_!" the Eraser growled.

Just before the mystery person jumped out of the window, I caught sight of black pants, muddy sneakers, and huge dark wings. _Wings!?_ Fang ran in and rushed over to make sure the girls were alright. Angel pushed past him and said, "Get of him! He came to save us!"

I stared at her for a minute, then looked down to the Eraser under me. Then I noticed how he wasn't furiously trying to push me off and rip my throat out. "I'm Zack, your friendly-neighborhood-Eraser," he introduced himself. I pushed his face into the floor, a little less than gently.

"Um, Angel, this is an _Eraser_. You know, one of the _bad-guys_?"

She attempted to roll me off of "Zack" the Eraser. "But he came to help us! Get off of him, Max, you're smothering him!"

_Good_, I couldn't help but think. Angel bristled with anger. "Sorry, Angel," I apologized, moving just enough to where "Zack" could breathe.

"Thank you," he said. "Would you mind getting off me, now?"

"Shut it, dog-boy," I snapped. "Fang, go check if you see any weird guy with dark wings outside. Ella, go see if Aunt Josephine has any chains. Tough ones."

They nodded.

Angel gasped and Zack (sorry, make that "Zack") groaned. "Chains?" he whined. "Really? And, ouch, your knee is jabbing into my wing."

I ignored him and Angel's rants. Suddenly Marco zoomed- and I mean literally _zoomed_- up to us. His mouth dropped open seeing the Eraser and his face turned deathly pale. "E-E-ERASER!" he shouted.

Everyone in the house then officially believed in the situation and ran up to us. Ford rushed up and kicked "Zack's" face. He moaned, then fell unconscious.

"Aw, why'd you do that?" Angel asked, on the verge of tears.

* * *

Ford, Fang, Drew, Josephine, Mom, and I sat down stairs, waiting for the tightly bound Eraser to wake up. Just for good measure, Josephine had a shot gun and a container of very sharp and lethal knives at her reach. And that only freaked me out a _whole lot_. What if she really wasn't with us and used those on us in our sleep?

_Because she's your freaking aunt, you paranoid idiot._

Zack suddenly blinked his eyes open and started to ask something, but Josephine shrieked and accidentally shot the basement wall. All of us screamed in surprise, and the Eraser stared at her in horror. Well, all of us but Drew, but her eyes widened. Still silent.

_She's your freaking _deranged _aunt_, I mentally corrected myself. Zack was now completely awake. "What was that for!?" he cried. "Crazy old hag!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" she shrieked again, aiming the gun straight at him.

Zack gulped and went silent.

Josephine's hands shook, but never moved the gun away. "Why were you in my house with my niece and friend?"

"P-protecting them," he stuttered.

"The truth!"

"That is the truth!"

Drew cocked an eyebrow. Zack noticed and elaborated, "I was protecting them from Axel."

"Who?" Mom asked, finally getting Josephine to lower the gun. Zack sighed in relief and she put it up again. "Josephine, please. It's obvious he's not going to attack."

_Well, Mom, hate to break it to you, but Erasers tend to be a short leash. They snap really easy._

Zack looked away from Josephine and said, "He's with Itex. They made him to be like the guys with wings. Itex is trying to replace everyone they ever made. Especially the escapees and the mistakes."

Drew froze. Ford quietly took her hand. Zack continued, "And I'm one of the very last of the escapees. I suppose you all are the other escapees from California and New York."

Josephine finally lowered the gun on her own accord. "And how did this Axel find out where my house is?"

"He asked a man named Ter Borcht."

I groaned. "Ugh, not that foreign freak. I hate that man's guts! No, I hate his _everything_, not just his guts."

Mom nodded. "I still have nightmares about that awful accent."

"I've been tailing him since he first found me and the others from Germany, but thanks to you all, I've lost his trail." Zack cast a loathing glance at me and finished with a sigh. "Isn't it, like, lunch time? Can I get a few sandwiches or something?"

Josephine turned to us. "Think we can trust him?"

"No," we echoed.

Zack frowned, but didn't argue. Instead he shrugged, as if expecting it. "Still, I'll stay down here if I can get something to eat."

"You'll stay down here, food or no food," Josephine snapped. To make her point clear, she raised the gun up and cocked it menacingly. Then she stood and walked away.

Mom took one last good look at Zack and left too.

Ford sighed. "I hate you, just because you're an Eraser. But I guess we can't… wait, starving you would be excellent torture, wouldn't it? Nah, too mean either way."

Fang wandered in and nudged up against my leg. I picked him up and scratched behind his ears, just like he loved it. I turned to leave, it was time to feed him, but Fang jumped out of my arms and walked over to Zack. He meowed and sat down defiantly. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Fang, let's go."

My response was another meow. Fang curled up on the ground and refused to move.

"Cute cat," Zack commented, looking down at it.

"Touch my Fang and I'll rip your throat out," I evenly said, picking him up again. Fang stabbed his claws into my arm and I couldn't help but shriek. "Would you stop that!?"

Meow.

Fang grabbed him from me with a sigh. "I told you the furball was stupid."

Fang hissed and I punched his arm. "Don't you dare say that! Fang is adorable."

"Thank you, Max. I guess you're awfully cute too. But those Milky Ways are _mine_."

"Dang," I said, this time a smile playing on my lips. I turned to Zack. "I'll find you a slab of rotten meat. Would that be to your liking?"

He suddenly looked up at me in a weird way. "You're… Ari's sister, aren't you? Maximum Ride?"

I glared at him.

Zack clumsily tried to stand. "Is Ari alright? Did he make it out of Germany okay?"

That's when I nearly dropped Fang.

"Ari…. My brother… died. His expiration date-"

"What!?" Zack shouted. His face twisted into something horrible. "He can't be dead! _He can't_!"

Before any tears could betray me, I turned and walked away. "I'll bring you your stupid sandwich later," I hissed, pulling both Fangs with me. Ford and Drew had left long ago.

"But Ari can't be dead…."

* * *

Nudge looked up at me in surprise. "Max? What happened? You look terrible."

"Our Eraser must have known Ari. He didn't know he was dead."

Something made my chest hurt.

I scavenged through my suitcase for Fang's food, ignoring the conversation. Fang happily set to eating it, and I less than happily went downstairs.

"What did the Eraser in basement tell you all, anyway? Dr. M won't say anything." Iggy asked in the kitchen.

I stopped outside to listen in. Everyone was either upstairs or outside playing again. It was only Iggy and Drew.

Drew shrugged. Then she remembered that Iggy was blind and couldn't see the gesture. Marco was suddenly beside me. "Watcha doing, guys?"

I saw Iggy scowl and turn around. "What're you doing?"

He grinned. "Dragging you three outside. You all are on my team!"

"Team?"

"Mine and Amber's snowball fight, of course. Now come on, hurry! Mom's probably pounding Selene into the ground!"

I inwardly sighed. And I was close to hearing Drew speak for once…. "Ford! Amber wants you on her team!" Marco called before we went outside.

Ford rushed downstairs with Gazzy at his heels. "I want to play!" he cried. "Nudge, Fang! Come on! Snow ball fight!"

* * *

"You all are soaked plum through!" Josephine stated after our match was over. I noticed her true Appalachian accent then. It wasn't too noticeable, though.

She sighed and handed all of us towels. Amber was still moping because they'd lost. I must admit that Josephine held up pretty well against us (Marco, Iggy, Drew, Gazzy, Nudge, Mom, and me) but when Fang and I really got the competition heated up, they had no hope. Gazzy and Iggy's tag-teaming totally bested them (Amber, Selene, Ford, Fang, Angel, Josephine, and Lane).

Nudge sat down on the floor with a happy sigh. "Just a few more days until Christmas."

"But today Santa strikes again!" Jeb suddenly announced, coming in.

Fang groaned, and Jeb evilly grinned.

**Chapter 6- Dance, Dance, We're Falling Apart**

Jeb forced a smile- it was actually a little scary- and shoved a blue bag in Fang's face. "I know you'll love it," he promised in an equally creepy voice.

Rolling his eyes, Fang threw out the crepe paper and took out a- you won't believe it- black shirt. Just like the one Gazzy and Iggy had blown up a few days ago. "Oh, wow," he said in a monotone that we both knew Jeb hated. "I love it."

"There's more," Jeb pressed.

Fang lifted a box out, but dropped it and the bag before I could tell what it was. He gave Jeb the darkest glare from him I'd seen in a while, and Jeb _laughed_.

Angel's mouth dropped. "Ew, that is gross, Jeb! Fang and Max aren't like that!"

Fang pushed Jeb outside and slammed the door behind him. I grabbed the bag and looked inside at the box.

My face turned strawberry red and I ran out and joined him in killing Jeb.

There is no way I would ever tell you guys what was in the box.

Think of my Mom and the incident this morning.

That's what was inside.

* * *

Iggy would not stop laughing. Even after I gave him the worst threats I have acquired in my fourteen years of life. Even after I went through his and Gazzy's stuff and threw anything that seemed even barely explosive into a river a few miles away. Hopefully they wouldn't be able to salvage much out again when they sneak out later.

Still, no one _dared _to come within a ten foot radius of me. Heck, I didn't even know where Fang had gone. Josephine and Mom were recklessly driving to the hospital with Jeb stuffed in the trunk, hopefully slowly dying of oxygen deprivation.

Personally I think we went a little easy on that old douche bag of a man. The worst I did was break his nose.

Fang… well, there's a reason we call him Fang. Enough said.

Finally, I was sick of seeing the kids and Ford staring at me in horror so I went down into the basement to escape. But I forgot about good ole Zack. He was snoring, head slumped back, and in human form.

All Erasers are good looking. No denying that. But Zack was obviously a little different.

He was the spitting image of Sam. Northern Virginia Sam. _My former boyfriend Sam_.

"Sam!?" I screeched.

Zack (Sam?) shook his head and blearily looked at me. "Mngwut…?"

I stuttered out everything going through my overloaded head. When I was done, Sam (Zack?) was just staring at me, his mouth slightly open. He shook his head, snapping out of it. "So… who's Sam?"

"Uh… you?"

"I'm Zack…. Remember? You were on top of me, a little girl screaming in the back ground, Axel running off?"

"No, y-you're Sam! I always knew you were an Eraser! There's no way I'd land a date with someone without fur, or wings, or freaking powers-"

Whoever this guy was stood up, awkwardly turned around, and tried to put his hand over my mouth. "I hate it when people chain me up," he complained during my ranting, giving up on his very own Mission Impossible.

Ooh, scary thought. Nudge acting like this.

I shut up instantly. "I'll get you dinner," I said in a weird monotone.

My eyes were bugging out. My head, I knew for a fact, was officially busted. My hair was frizzy (after the crazy events of today, I'd forgotten to de-rat-nest-ify it). And, worst, Jeb was back, sitting on the couch between the sisterly protection of Mom and Josephine.

The three of them stared at me in mute horror as I walked past them into the kitchen.

They did the same thing when I walked back to the basement with plenty of sandwiches.

"I forgot to bring napkins, so don't slobber too much," I announced, setting the food in front of him. I knew that he couldn't eat tied up like that, and I definitely wasn't going to start feeding him.

"In a pickle, aren't we?" he said for me, staring longingly at the sandwiches.

"You have no idea."

Trust him or not. Trust some random Eraser who was supposedly saving Angel and Ella, who just so happened to be the spitting image of Sam, and so far hadn't reacted in too negative a way.

It was probably because he looked so much like Sam. And, though I hated to think about it, if this Eraser had turned out to look exactly like the Bane of Existence (Lissa), Fang…. Would he have let her go? Or would he keep his sanity and ignore her just like every other Eraser, regardless of appearance. Food for thought, I guess. Horrible-tasting rotted and molded food.

He breathed out a thank you and started shoving the food down his throat as fast as he could. I wasn't totally stupid, of course. I was ready to reach out and snap his neck (oh, bad Ari memories coming back…) if I had to. When he'd finished eating, he looked back at me. "You can tie me back up."

That was the most confusing thing that had happened all day. I mentally recorded this moment. The first, and most likely last, time an Eraser would ever willingly give in to me like that.

"No… I think you're… okay like that. I'll keep you unchained if you stay here. But one false move and I will _not _hesitate to break your back and wipe your slimy body on the floor when I'm carrying you outside to get hypothermia and freeze." There was something more I wanted to say. But… I just couldn't think of it. It was there on the tip of my tongue.

Zack looked away from me as he suddenly asked in a low voice, "How… did Ari die? Please. Tell me."

My chest hurt again, this time much more. I was being eaten by years of guilt, betrayal, and lastly… love. First, Ari was Jeb's son. I grew up in a cage, watching him with uncontrollable envy everyday. He was never tested on while I was there. He wasn't forced to watch failed experiments break down and die beside him countless times. He had a dad, a family, friends…. Everything I never had. Then, he took Angel away, and I put him on my Top Ten Hate list. He tracked me and family for almost a year, torturing all of us and almost killing Fang twice. I hated him. More than anything. My one wish was for him to die. Then… Jeb shouted to me back in New York that my sworn enemy was actually my brother.

Have you ever made a mistake that you think about daily? One that you know you'll never forget for as long as you live?

Then, when we captured again, Ari saved us. He figured that since he was going to die soon, he might as well use the very end of his life to help someone. Taking him with us tore the flock apart. Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy left us. The whole time I regretted that decision. I still regret that. But in Germany… when I watched him finally take his last breath…-

"Max?" Zack asked quietly.

I noticed that I was crying. "His expiration date appeared. He died in the middle of the battle. And…," I paused to wipe my eyes with my sleeve, "he had a smile on his face."

We both stood there in silence for a minute. I finally stole a glance at Zack. Looking at him torn like that made me forget how alike he and Sam looked. Sam was never so broken like that.

Unless…. Was he sad when I left?

Didn't matter. I had Fang now. And Sam was always destined to be just a memory for me.

Memories fade.

Suddenly, my head started to pound. It wasn't so bad, until Zack asked, "Max!?"

Then it all exploded. I screamed. Everything went black as I fell down on the cold, hard floor. Zack rushed over, shaking my shoulders.

"What are you doing!? Get away from her!"

"Max!"

"Mom! Drew- sh-she's-!"

_It's happening again._

_Again?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7- I'll Be Back? Who Ever Said That?**

I walked down the halls of West Phoenix academy, Ella on my right explaining the latest gossip, and Ari on my left, groaning and complaining at us. "Oh, you'll want to hear about girls soon enough," I promised him, patting his already scruffy hair. "Besides, won't you be late if tag along with us?"

"Nah," my seven year old brother shrugged. "It's just a free day anyway. We're about to get our presentation thing today soon. It's about those new students, right? The ones from the east coast?"

Ella enthusiastically nodded. "I've already met some of them. There's a tall, strawberry blonde guy named James that is incredibly hot. I mean, Sophia was almost ready to call the fire department on that boy!"

I stifled my grin and tried not to roll my eyes. Still, she continued, this time to Ari. "And there were two siblings. One was about your age, his name was Bradley, I think; and the other one, a girl, was Acacia. They were so adorable!"

"I don't want to hang out with adorable kids! Ugh, probably so stuck up like you!" But Ari was grinning. He loved Ella, even though they were half siblings. My father, Jeb Batchelder, was mine and Ari's father. My mother, Valencia Martinez, was mine and Ella's mother. Because of all of this, I decided my last name would be Martinez-Batchelder. It sounded pretty cool.

Especially with my name in front of it. M-

Suddenly I stopped. Ella and Ari also stopped. "Sis? What's up? Another headache?"

It went away quickly. "I'm fine. Just… I don't know, I think I just had de ja vu."

M? My name didn't start with M.

It started with a V.

I stopped again, this time noticing a dark haired boy leaning up against a locker. His dark, deep eyes widened at seeing me. "Max?"

Ella's head shot up. "You're one of the new students from Virginia, aren't you? You're… um… Alex, right? Alex Hays?"

"Alex…? What? Ella, don't you know me? I'm-"

I dropped to my knees, Ari staring at me in surprise. "Sis?"

Suddenly, four more kids came into view.

"Max! Max, we found you!"

"I'm not Max!" I shouted.

Bradley's face fell. "M-Max?"

A dark skinned girl I didn't know yet gasped. "Max, what's wrong!? Of course you know me, I'm-"

Another whip of pain went through my head. "And I'm-"

"Yeah! I'm-"

"You've got to remember me. I'm…, your boyfriend?"

I managed to look up at Alex. "No, you're not."

Just then, my real boyfriend walked up behind me and helped me to my feet. "Problem here?"

I looked up into his dark eyes and was suddenly struck at how alike he and Alex really looked. Ari looked up at him in admiration. The two of them were best friends. "Come on, Vanessa, let's get you to the nurse."

"Thanks, Axel."

"No! Max! Don't do it! _Don't listen to him_!" Alex shouted. He started to run after us, but suddenly froze- literally. He ceased to move, and so did everyone else. I turned back to Axel, but he looked at me funny. Dazed, I turned around.

Ella and Ari looked at me with distress. "Vanessa? Are you okay? What are you looking for?" Ella asked. She rushed up and squeezed my hand. Not wanting to be left out, Ari came over. But… he seemed… taller. And hairier… almost wolf like.

I shook my head and the apparition went away. "I think… I think I should go lie down…."

"…What's going on?" Axel asked, looking down at me with his soft eyes. Sometimes I thought I could drown by simply staring into them.

"I don't know. Something's wrong with me, but I don't know what." I shivered, suddenly cold. Was I delirious with fever? Or was I just plain crazy?

Axel grinned. "You'll be okay."

"How do you know?"

Finally, he leaned down and kissed me quick on the lips. It felt like feathers…. Feathers…? "Because I know everything, as I keep reminding you. Look, whatever this is, we'll deal with it. We always have before." He smiled again, and so did Ella and Ari.

_Fang said that…not him…_

That chilly, lonely voice… it belonged to me. _Who was Fang?_ I mentally asked. I had officially crossed over the line into insanity. Hearing crazy voices? Not good for West Phoenix's head cheerleader. Then, remembering, I asked, _Who was Max?_

_Me. I'm Max. Fang is my friend. I… I love him. Not Axel. I don't love him. Zack warned me…I couldn't catch him in time… You… you're just a fantasy. There is no Vanessa Martinez-Batchelder. Ari is dead. Ella isn't that self-conscious. Fang… the flock… they're my family._

_You're not real._

* * *

Wearily I opened my eyes. The first thing I saw was an orange and white ball of warm fur curled up on my chest. I numbly remembered he was my cat, Fang. My bedroom door opened, and Amber stumbled in. She wobbled over to be and collapsed on the side of the bed. "Am…ber?" I asked weakly. I reached out and touched her caramel hair.

She raised her head. "Max?" she asked in an exhausted voice. "You're awake?" Amber stood upright again and started to walk back out. "I'll go tell the others…."

"No, Amber," I stopped her, easily picking her up and laying down on the bed. I covered her up to her chin just like I do to Angel all the time. As soon as I did so, she immediately shut her eyes and fell asleep. Fang mewed and stood at her side. I smiled. "Good boy. Watch over her. Do a good job, all right, Fang?"

He meowed again in response and curled up beside her.

"Do you think she'll be alright, Mom?"

Josephine wasn't quick to answer. I could feel the hope literally melt from Lane's face. She then suddenly noticed me. Josephine exclaimed and rushed over to hug me. Lane stared at me, his mouth slightly open in the shape of a horizontal zero. "You're alright, Max…." she breathed out. Finally, she pulled back from me and took my hand. "Come on down stairs. Valencia's been sick with worry over you."

Hazily, I asked, "What happened to me?"

"You collapsed," Lane answered. "Right at the same time as… Drew…."

I turned to him, and Josephine stopped, her hand starting to shake. I looked back at Josephine. "What's wrong with Drew?"

She took a deep breath and started the trip back to the kitchen. "I'll explain better downstairs."

_Away from Amber's hearing,_ I figured.

The only person down stairs besides us and Mom were Angel and Gazzy. Their faces lit up as they saw me. "Max, you're awake!" The two football tackled me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around them too.

"Of course I am. I am the leader, after all."

Angel giggled, and Gazzy only hugged me tighter. "Don't do that, ever again," Gazzy said, changing his voice into a much deeper, more commanding tone. I laughed.

Gazzy looked back over to the couch. I instantly thought Fang. "Don't like sappy moments?"

"Just practicing," he answered, still invisible. Before, he could only stay invisible while not moving. "So you've decided to grace us with your presence, sleeping beauty?"

I did a little curtsy, grinning. Still, he didn't reappear.

"I'm fine," he said, obviously reading my mind. It was scary cool and scary weird how he did that. Was I really such an open book?

Feeling more like myself finally, I put my hands on my hips and looked around. "Sheesh, it's too quiet. Where's all the usual headache inducing racket at?"

"They're in Drew's room. I've been keeping these two in lock down. All kids under eleven are banned from upstairs," Fang answered. Josephine scowled in his direction. Ignoring her glare, he continued. "They weren't going to let Nudge go, but she complained our ears off until we caved and let her go. She's not doing good."

Gazzy frowned. "That's no fair. How come Amber got to go? She's eight too…."

"Amber's Drew's sister. She's allowed."

I was about to comment on how tired she looked a little while ago, but I didn't want them to start worrying anymore. So I kept quiet and waited for Josephine to start explaining.

She sighed and sat down in an armchair. "Gazzy, Angel, I guess she's not too bad anymore. You two go up and check on the kids and Valencia. Lane, go with them."

He nodded, taking their hands. It was almost like he was family now too. A cousin, I guess. And something was wrong one with one of the cousins. Josephine waited until she was sure they were gone. Then, she sighed again and leaned back in the chair. "They told me that all the experiments from the Institute were failures. The mistakes that lived."

I was shocked. Mistakes… they never lived back at the school. The Erasers…. The Erasers got them…. The only reason Iggy was spared was because of Jeb. But of course we all knew what he was planning.

Josephine shook her head. "They broke in one day about a year ago. That's how we met. They were exhausted from running all the way from New York to here in Virginia. I came back home after a long, hard day at work to find them all asleep in my living room. Drew and Ford instantly woke up. The three of us were scared silly of each other. I went into the kitchen and started to make dinner, expecting them to run. Instead, slowly, they came in with me and asked for some food. They were desperate. Amber and Lane were just pitiful, being the youngest. I let them stay the night, after a little bit of arguing, and we gained each other's trust. I never said anything against them whenever they left, but eventually they always came back no matter what. Every time, I'd fix them a warm dinner and offer them a place to sleep.

"That's when they started to tell me things. They told me about their powers. How Ford could see the future, how Selene could fly and all of that. Then they told me about the Institute and that had happened to them there. Ford explained how eventually all the escapees had separated into groups, and they were one of them. He told me all about six children who could fly that had broke them out. I'm guessing that was you all.

"So they decided they would stay with me after making sure I wasn't an enemy or anything. I had to throw out almost everything that could be considered a possible weapon first, of course. We lived well together. Until the first time Drew collapsed like that. I was sure that she was sick, but I was afraid to take any of them to a hospital. What would happen to them if someone found out about their secret? Amber then first used her healing power, but that didn't work. That meant she wasn't sick.

"They told me more about why they were considered mistakes. Marco was horribly uncoordinated and tripped a lot, which really affected his running. Every power they tried to give Selene never worked. Ford's power sparsely came, and most times whatever he saw were fictitious. Amber could only sometimes heal someone, and it was very limited even then. Lane's power took three days to reach the recipient. Nothing they tried on Drew worked. Her cells wouldn't combine with the other DNA they tried to put into her making her practically normal. But then they learned that she was special. The reason nothing they tried worked was because of something scientific- none of them knew what it was and I don't know anything in the scientific field- that they could use to stimulate others' powers.

"Whenever they first tried it, it messed her up somehow. Because of that, sometimes she just randomly goes unconscious for a while. And… I'm afraid. I've never told this to any of my kids, but I'm afraid that one day… maybe she won't wake up from it. It's only been getting longer and more worse every time. It happens more often…." Josephine stopped and stared at the floor.

The worst part was that I could relate to her. The countless times the flock was tested on, the countless times I worried about them and myself…. I got up and came over to hug her. Josephine burst into tears.

Fang reappeared and came over too. I then noticed the bruise on his cheek. I'd ask him about that later. But for now we stood there together for the longest time.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8- Zack, Axel, Drew, and Iggy

**It was four days until Iggy and Ford finally came downstairs.**

"**Decided to become a part of civilization, eh, boys?" Zack asked, receiving glares from all of us. He instantly went silent. I felt a little weird, knowing they cut him a little slack only because I had untied him. I even more surprised to learn that he was the one that rushed upstairs to try and get help for me. He reminded me of Ari a little. They were complete opposites, but… well, they were both Erasers. Let's just leave it at that.**

**Iggy breathed up his huge lunch (Josephine was used to cooking a lot, thank God) occasionally cracking a new joke to Gazzy. Apparently, he and Ford had had a great time upstairs looking after Drew.**

**Ella and Marco were upstairs with her now. Every few hours, we rotated to who would be where. Usually Mom and Jo, Me and both Fangs, and Iggy and Ford had the night hours. The younger kids had day shift.**

**Jeb usually stayed downstairs to keep our favorite Eraser in check. So far, he hadn't done anything too drastic, but I wasn't about to buy it. It didn't matter if he reminded me of Ari, or that he looked like Sam. He was an Eraser, and he'd always be my enemy.**

**Josephine suddenly sighed. "I guess we can't make it to the Snow Parade…."**

**Amber gaped in horror. "We can't!? Awww!"**

**Selene ran her fingers through Amber's stringy caramel hair. "It's okay, hun. We can have our own parade."**

"**With a sedan?" she asked blandly.**

"**No, with wings." She gave the six of us dagger looks.**

**I quickly nodded. "Course! So… what's a snow parade?" I nodded absently as Amber enthusiastically explained. Something was really starting to bother me. But what was it…?**

**Zack burped. "'Scuse me," he muttered before stuffing another sandwich in his mouth.**

**Um… that wasn't it.**

"**I'm back~!"**

**We turned to the doorway where Jeb stood. Fang narrowed his eyes. Jeb fitfully tried to ignore him and strode in with bags. Geez… what was with this man? Does he **_**want **_**to die or something? "Max, Fang, I'm sorry for that last thing, so I've got more presents for you two!"**

**He dropped them in front of us, mine a shiny red, his an equally shiny green. I only opened the stupid gift because of the look Mom gave me. I guess she kicked Fang. I gave the crepe paper to Zack (maybe he would cover that face up with the stuff) and fearfully peeked inside.**

**My eyes widened, but this time only in mild surprise. I picked up the thin, silver chain and stared at the many diamonds on it. "You didn't steal this from Wal-Mart, did you?" I blandly asked, all the surprise melting away with this realization.**

"**Of course not! I'm not a convict!"**

**We glared at him. Wrong thing to say to this particular bunch. Fang casually slid his huge collection of CD's to Iggy and Nudge. "Go knock yourselves out."**

**Jeb frowned. "You didn't like them? Either of you?"**

**Well… if it hadn't come from **_**you**_**….**

"**Is that Relient K!? I love that band!" Nudge squealed. I could almost see her eyeballs turning into actual hearts. Wow.**

**Jeb sighed and grudgingly turned to leave. I suddenly remembered something as he sauntered away. "Jeb!" I called.**

**He turned, miserable. "Yes, Max?"**

"**What are doing here?"**

"**Giving you presents?"**

"**But, didn't you say you were going to stay in Arizona?"**

**He was silent. I had proven my case. "And," I continued, "may you by any chance know Zackie here?"**

**Zack looked up at the mention of his name. "Huh? Oh, the freaky Santa dude? Um… don't think we've met."**

**Jeb looked him over for a minute, then shrugged. "Same here." Then he left, and I didn't try to stop him.**

**One of the things that annoy me the most is when I'm on to something great and quite possibly significant, and it turns out to be absolutely nothing. I mean, it just totally destroys self-esteem. What use am I if I can't figure something simple out?**

*** * ***

_**You're not real.**_

**I opened my eyes and fearfully looked around. File cabinets that held medicine and other medical things. I sucked in a horrified breath. No, no, no….**

**Wait… since when was I afraid of medical things? Because of my parents jobs- veterinary and doctor- I had always wanted to be a doctor, too. I sat up and looked around the school's nurse's office. Axel must have brought me here. Ella suddenly poked her head in. "Vanessa! You're awake!" Mom and Dad smuggled in the room with Ari and Axel behind them. The cheerleading squad also stood nearby. I gave them a grin to signify that I was okay. Helen instantly whipped out her Blackberry and started texting everyone that I was fine.**

"**MAX!" that Alex kid suddenly yelled, running through the girls and pushing past my parents.**

**I gaped at him as he paused to try and catch his breath. Finally, he looked up at me with intense dark eyes. "Don't fall for it," he panted. "Don't let him trick you."**

**Then, just like that, Alex was gone.**

**I blinked. Um, weird much, Vanessa? "Sorry for worrying you guys," I apologized with another bright smile. "Must have caught the bug."**

**Dad nodded. "Don't worry, honey. Do you want to go back home?"**

"**No thanks," I answered, sliding off the bench. I smoothed out my expensive clothes and joined the girls. "Anything interesting happen?"**

**Sophia, Ella's best friend, shook her head. "Nothing much except for the usual. Good to know you're back, girl!"**

**I looked at my faithful few. Sophia, with her blonde curls and angelic face, was the youngest next to Monique, a fashion conscious dark-skinned girl with hour-long straightened hair and a mouth made for talking.**

**And the two of them looked just like….**

**Who?**

*** * ***

**That night, Josephine played music for us as we tried our luck at Twister.**

**Don't ask how it got started.**

**It was mine and Selene's turn, and that girl didn't have a hope. I was already twisted enough to don the name Pretzel and still standing. Selene… well, maybe the scientists hadn't thought about Twister when they did their thing. How inconsiderate on their part.**

**Finally, with a small cry, Selene fell, making me fall as well. "Sorry!" we said both at the same time.**

**Marco shot his hand up. "My turn! Who's wants to go against me!?"**

"**I will."**

**All of us froze and turned towards the door. A tall red-head with some serious bed hair stood there with a faint smile on her still-pallid face.**

"**DREW!" they cried ganging up on the poor girl.**

**I realized that she had talked. Two words. Today was a good day indeed.**

**Once the kids had peeled themselves away, Drew wasn't about to let the challenge die. And, just like with Selene and I, Marco was down almost instantly. So… Drew was going to prove to be some competition, eh? Interesting.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9- Beethoven's Fifth! …Um, or Not**

You know, it's difficult, I imagine, to try and hit on a girl when you're blind. Poor Iggy was trying hard to woo Drew, it was painfully obvious, but when you realized that he was trying not to let anyone notice, it was downright pitiful. So we took turns interrogating the two, passing on info to make the crash and fall a little less harsh.

And I here I thought it was just a coincidence that he was always upstairs looking after her before.

Well, all that aside, I figured something out about the whole Axel thing and the weird dreams I've been having. The boy who looks like Fang, Alex, is still a mystery. No idea. But his and Axel's names are interesting. If you rearrange Alex, you get Axel. Coincidence? I don't think so. If the whole Iggy thing wasn't, how could this be?

Fang jumped up on the bed next to me. I absently scratched him behind the ears. "You know, Fang, something is just plain weird."

He bobbed his head, and my eyes went wide. "You can't talk like Total can, can you?"

Fang mewed, and I groaned, falling back. Maybe I was the only weird one here. Fang mewed again. And again. Finally, I asked, "What is it?"

"Smart cat you have there."

My body went rigid as I bolted upright and scanned my room. I didn't see anyone, but I was too smart just leave it at that. "Who's there?" I demanded, trying put as much significance as I could in my voice.

An arm wrapped around my shoulders. "What's wrong? Something bothering you?"

I grabbed the arm and attempted to the flip the person over my back, but he was faster and yanked my hair up again. "Still not yet. But soon. Really soon. I'd get into the habit of checking, if I were you."

"Who the heck are you!?" I raged, struggling. This guy must have been awfully strong if he could pin _me_ down.

He chuckled. "Can't you recognize me by my voice, yet, Vanessa?"

_My name is not Vanessa!_

The room dissolved around me as Axel showed me his bright smile.

I screamed- something I was not accustomed to. Ella and Ari burst into the room. Crazy surprise mirrored on their faces. "Vanessa!?"

Ella jumped on my bed and smacked the back of her hand to my forehead. "Are you okay? What's wrong? Are you feeling sick again or-"

"Shh," I said, trying to lower my rapid heart rate for their sake. "Bad dream. I'm fine." Still, Ella helped me up to my feet. Ari smiled eagerly and started to lead me downstairs. "What's going on?"

He chuckled. Well… more like giggled, but I'm sure my brother wouldn't like it if I said he giggled like an eccentric blonde six-year-old. "You don't think we'd forget, did you?"

"Um… forget what, Ari?"

Axel popped up with a smile on his face. Man did he remind me of someone. Just that smile… whenever I saw it, I couldn't help but feel so much brighter. He smiled all the time- but it somehow felt like it was something rarer. "It's your birthday, Vanessa, remember?"

I blinked. Then I gasped. "Today's December 20th? Today's that shopping spree in Peoria! I have got to call the girls! Come on, Axel, Ella! Ari, go wake up Mom and Dad!"

The three of them smiled and set to their assigned jobs. Ella, Axel, and I sat on the couch, me in the middle. "Hmm… well, we definitely can't go without Monique. That girl would never forgive me for leaving her behind on a trip to the mall. Then there's Sophia…."

"Ooh," Ella nudged, cocking an eyebrow, "how about we bring along Max?"

"Max?" I asked. "Who's-?"

* * *

I gasped, my eyes opening in terror. Nudge stood there, staring at me like I was a freak. Wait….

I cleared my throat, clutching my bed sheets in an attempt to make my hands stop shaking. "Yeah, Nudge?"

"Are you alright, Max?" she asked slowly.

Well, no fooling her. "We've got to have a meeting. Just the flock; somewhere away from here. Besides, we need to go see the scenery anyway."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10- Iggy's Chapter**

I remembered where every creak on the staircase was, and I avoided them like the plague. My I-Pod was stuffed in my pocket, just for support I guess.

Leave it up to the blind guy to turn crazy.

When I heard all the snoring in the living room, I thought to turn back around and just go back to sleep, but I couldn't. Max had a tendency to let "flock-only" discussions take us into another time zone, most likely never to return. Well, I couldn't leave. Not yet.

Making sure to step lightly and not on whiney Lane, I went over to the couch. "Hey… Drew?"

I heard shuffling, so she must have sat up. "Iggy? What're you…-"

"Wanna go outside?" I offered before she went back asleep.

Somehow I knew she scowled. "Outside at four in the morning?"

I shrugged. With a sigh, she stood up. "Give me five minutes to get ready."

She agreed? Really? I wanted to start cheering, but waking up Ford wouldn't exactly ensure success on my mission. Geez… mission? I've been hanging out with Max too often.

Someone- crap, was that Ford!?- groaned and creaked up. "What are you doing now?"

I was silent. Maybe the overly-protective brother was just talking in his sleep? No. Of course he wasn't. "Where's Drew?"

"Uh… upstairs?"

"You chose to go on a date at four in the morning?"

My face went red. Hopefully the dark covered that. "I might not be here tomorrow!"

Shoot. Wasn't supposed to let that slip. He stood up and scratched his head. "Well… just don't keep her out too late. Or… early, I guess." Ford then stumbled into the kitchen. My stomach growled too, but Drew was already back downstairs.

I wanted to see her. So badly. That one day in the snow wasn't good enough. Drew had dark red hair and pretty brown eyes, but I couldn't remember if she was tall or not. And what was she wearing right now? Obviously not pajamas, but still. Drew took my hand I hoped she was smiling. "Where to?"

"Anywhere you want," I answered, giving one of my own smiles.

Ford snorted in the kitchen. "Remember, be back before seven!"

"Isn't the rule 'back before eleven'?"

I could feel the sharp glare. "Seven thirty."

I shrugged and we rushed outside. "Ever flown before?" I asked as I unfurled my wings. I hugged her close to me. "I promise not to drop you."

Her voice was just a little shaky. "That's reassuring. Selene isn't exactly a steady flier." I laughed and zoomed upward. Drew screamed at first, then it slowly turned into a laugh. I smiled into her red hair. It smelled like apples. "There's a big, empty field just to your right. We could go there."

"Dang it," I suddenly said, "I should have brought breakfast."

Drew laughed again and I landed. "A picnic in the dark. Well, I guess that just means we'll have to be pigs when we get back."

"Shouldn't be too hard." I kicked some snow out of the way. She followed, and soon we had a Drew-and-Iggy sized hole. I pulled out my I-Pod and solemnly handed it to her. "This is partly my pride and joy. Choose well."

After a few minutes, she finally found one.

_Check yes, Juliet, are you with me? Rain is falling down on the sidewalk, I won't go until you come outside. Check yes, Juliet, kill the limbo. I'll keep tossing rocks at your window. There's turning back for us tonight. Lace off your shoes, here's how we do._

_Run, baby, run. Don't ever look back. They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance. Don't tell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be. Run, baby, run. Forever will be you and me._

"What's this song called?" I asked quietly.

"Check Yes Juliet, by We the Kings."

I nodded to myself. Find a song: check. "So… come here often?"

"Every now and then," she joked. I put my arm around her and she leaned her head on my shoulder. Find a perfect moment to relive later: check.

When she sighed, I knew that something was wrong. No one sighed like that unless there was a touchy subject coming up. "What's wrong?" I asked, turning to her. Again, I wished I could just see her face. Just one more time before I left. Just once….

"Why are you leaving tomorrow?"

My breath left me. She heard? I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. "I don't want to go. I'm to try as hard as I can to stay."

Prepare to fight against Max: check.

* * *

Nudge knocked on Iggy's door, ready to try and talk him out of whatever plan he had to try and avoid Max's thing. She was also aware that talks like that usually resulted in them leaving, but this time it was really important. Erasers were back, Max was really scared, and something was just plain wrong here.

He didn't answer. "Iggy?" Nudge softly called. It wasn't like him to sleep so soundly. Iggy would have been able to hear her walk down the hall. "Are you there?"

Nudge opened the door and squealed. No! He couldn't be gone already!

She ran down stairs to only see that Drew was also missing. "Oh, no," she moaned.

Ford irritably turned to her. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Have you seen Iggy? I really need to make sure that he's not going to try something stupid like run off somewhere just because of tomorrow and tell him that we're not going to leave, just talk, and that everything will be alright and-"

Ford paled a considerable amount. With a quick look at the clock, he noticed it was barely five-thirty. He couldn't just go and ruin their moment. Drew really liked him, and when he wasn't blowing something up, Ford sort of liked Iggy too. "Hey… Nudge?"

"Yeah?"

"Let them have the moment. Iggy and Drew will be back at seven. Well, they should be. You can do all of that then. And don't tell Val or Jo," he said.

* * *

"Hey… Iggy?"

"Yeah?"

"We need to go," Drew said, slowly sitting up.

I sat up too, again wishing I could see what was going on. "What's-?"

Drew screamed.


End file.
